"Judgement and Wrath" immediately catches the reader's attention with Matt Hilton's shoot-em-up tales of action and suspense, with more than a little off-the-cuff humor. This novel opens in a seedy bar in the Florida Keys, where we meet our protagonist, Joe Hunter. In a dark saloon frequented by thugs and biker gangs, Joe stands out like a sore thumb. So too, does the man he's meeting there, who seeks to hire Joe to find his daughter and bring her home from her abusive boyfriend. The meeting is sketchy, and getting out of the bar proves even sketchier, as the biker gangs take offense towards Joe and his demeanor. From there, violence and suspense ensue, and the book doesn't slow down until the end.
While Joe is looking for his client's daughter, we learn that a contract killer named Dantalion is also seeking her and her boyfriend, but for sinister reasons. Dantalion is a very finely wrought villain, and Matt Hilton allows us a window into his demented psyche by alternating the narrators of the chapters from Joe Hunter to Dantalion. Through his words, we learn that Dantalion is convinced he is superhuman, descended from myth as one of the Great Dukes of Hell. He dispatches people without conscience, but takes care to meticulously record the tallies of his dead in his little book, which he is convinced will make him truly worthy of his name.
This book was a rollicking good read. The chapters flowed seamlessly, the characters were well-fleshed out and for the most part very likable, and I never wanted the book to come to its eventual conclusion. Highly recommended.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Comes a Time for Burning
Steven Havill's "Comes a Time for Burning" is an excellent book that grabs hold of a reader's imagination and takes it on a bumpy ride back to the turn of the 20th century, out in the wild frontier of the Pacific Northwest. Published by Poisoned Pen Press, it is a fascinating story about the hardscrabble realities faced by those who went to tame the wild west.
The story centers around Dr. Thomas Parks, a recent transplant to Port McKinney, Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. He and his team of faithful nurses administer to the sick and injured in this backwater community, surrounded by loggers and others seeking to eke out a hardscrabble existence. An old friend, Dr. Lucius Hardy, has come west to help Dr. Parks as the needs of Port McKinney are beginning to outstrip the resources of one solitary doctor.
Shortly after Dr. Hardy arrives, Dr. Parks' wife delivers a healthy baby boy, but all is not as it seems. Dr. Parks and his wife, Alvina, have not been married long enough for him to be the biological father of the new baby. Dr. Parks has scarce time to manage his emotions regarding this, as an influx of gravely ill patients begin to flood his clinic. As their patients' horrific symptoms drain them of life, Drs. Parks and Hardy come to a disturbing realization. Cholera, the deadly illness that leaves many in its wake, is spreading through their little Northwestern town.
It takes both doctors, the town law official, and various other influential people to begin to even alert the community to the deadly illness in their midst; a task hampered by the adamant refusal of the local preacher to admit that a scourge of godless people in the East could be ravaging his godly community.
Steven Havill does a wonderful job of creating an almost tangible image of a small team of medical peeople racing against time to save their community, rescue as many people as they can, and contain the outbreak of "the cholera" to Port Jefferson. Mr. Havill's exceedingly graphic descriptions of how cholera ravages those who contract this disease is unsettling, educational, and extremely powerful in conveying the full brunt of the horrors faced by the people of Port Jefferson.
The writing style was very fluid, and provided a seemingly accurate description of patterns of speech in that time. Overall, the plot was well-wrought. The part about Dr. Parks' son not being his biological son seemed a bit unnecessary in the pacing of the narrative, but perhaps Mr. Havill will return to this fact in more detail if he picks up Dr. Parks' narrative thread again. I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of the medical methods and techniques used in the book, even though I am not generally interested in science or "gory stuff."
I loved the ending, as it truly solved a lot of problems on a very grand scale, but I still wanted to find out what happened to the people still laying in the clinic's sick wards. I was a little disappointed by the simple synopsis as to the fate of the characters in the end; it seemed a little too abrupt after creating these magnificent characters for the readers to enjoy.
Overall, "Comes a Time for Burning" is an enjoyable read that fans of science, history, and suspense will enjoy.
The story centers around Dr. Thomas Parks, a recent transplant to Port McKinney, Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. He and his team of faithful nurses administer to the sick and injured in this backwater community, surrounded by loggers and others seeking to eke out a hardscrabble existence. An old friend, Dr. Lucius Hardy, has come west to help Dr. Parks as the needs of Port McKinney are beginning to outstrip the resources of one solitary doctor.
Shortly after Dr. Hardy arrives, Dr. Parks' wife delivers a healthy baby boy, but all is not as it seems. Dr. Parks and his wife, Alvina, have not been married long enough for him to be the biological father of the new baby. Dr. Parks has scarce time to manage his emotions regarding this, as an influx of gravely ill patients begin to flood his clinic. As their patients' horrific symptoms drain them of life, Drs. Parks and Hardy come to a disturbing realization. Cholera, the deadly illness that leaves many in its wake, is spreading through their little Northwestern town.
It takes both doctors, the town law official, and various other influential people to begin to even alert the community to the deadly illness in their midst; a task hampered by the adamant refusal of the local preacher to admit that a scourge of godless people in the East could be ravaging his godly community.
Steven Havill does a wonderful job of creating an almost tangible image of a small team of medical peeople racing against time to save their community, rescue as many people as they can, and contain the outbreak of "the cholera" to Port Jefferson. Mr. Havill's exceedingly graphic descriptions of how cholera ravages those who contract this disease is unsettling, educational, and extremely powerful in conveying the full brunt of the horrors faced by the people of Port Jefferson.
The writing style was very fluid, and provided a seemingly accurate description of patterns of speech in that time. Overall, the plot was well-wrought. The part about Dr. Parks' son not being his biological son seemed a bit unnecessary in the pacing of the narrative, but perhaps Mr. Havill will return to this fact in more detail if he picks up Dr. Parks' narrative thread again. I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of the medical methods and techniques used in the book, even though I am not generally interested in science or "gory stuff."
I loved the ending, as it truly solved a lot of problems on a very grand scale, but I still wanted to find out what happened to the people still laying in the clinic's sick wards. I was a little disappointed by the simple synopsis as to the fate of the characters in the end; it seemed a little too abrupt after creating these magnificent characters for the readers to enjoy.
Overall, "Comes a Time for Burning" is an enjoyable read that fans of science, history, and suspense will enjoy.
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